It has been two months since the world has fallen. Some say it was a virus outbreak. Others say it was Biological Warfare gone wrong. Some even say it was aliens. Bailey Horvath wasn't really sure how happened nor does she really care about the how. All she knows is that it happened and the world is in hell. When it had happened she was at work. She was a tattoo artist and she was working on a client when one of those things came crashing through the doors. That was when all hell broke loose.
She had managed to get a hold of her father and they agreed to meet up at Atlanta. Bailey has been trying to get there ever since. It was on the opposite side of Georgia and traveling these days was not easy. She had her bike, but it ran out of gas two days ago. She had to leave it behind and carry on on foot, which broke her heart. The bike belonged to an ex and Bailey loved the bike even more than the ex, which was probably why they broke up.
Bailey traveled lightly. She had a backpack of extra clothes and supplies and as for weapons she had a machete strapped to her right hip, a pistol tucked into the back of her pants, and an awesome double headed ax that she had found back in Americus, she kept it strapped to her back. She was dressed in practical attire for the end of the world. Work boots, jeans, a t-shirt, and her favorite black leather jacket with dark red stripes on the sleeves. She had put her jacket in her bag during the morning, the day was hot and humid, while the nights were colder. She had her blonde wavey hair pulled back into a tight high bun to keep it from getting grabbed, when it was down it was to her waist. She had a pair of sunglasses to hide her dark green eyes from the sun. Her darkly tan skin was glisned in sweat from the long hours under the sun. She was a tall, slender woman with gentle curves, a tight small ass, round bountiful breasts, long graceful legs. She was a beautiful woman, but covered in a thick layer of dirt and grime from not having a decent wash in a month. It's hard to wash up when you're afraid of getting your ass bitten.
Bailey has been walking for hours, trying to get to Atlanta and find as much supplies as possible. She was exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and just desperately wishing for a swim in a pond at this point. She walked through the woods, knowing it was safer than the road, she could at least climb a tree if a walker came upon her.
As she breaks through the particular set of trees she was walking through, she saw a white old farm house standing supposedly vacant. She looks around cautiously, grabbing her ax and reading it before rushing across the backyard to the back door. She slips through and almost gags as she catches the smell of rotting corpses. She walks silently and carefully through the kitchen, heading out into the living room.
In the living room was two dead bodies. A woman and a man. It had looked as if the man shot the woman and then took his own life. Bailey moves carefully over and crotches down to see a bite mark on the woman's arm. "You were bitten." Bailey whispers, her eyes moving to the man. He had killed supposedly his wife and then killed himself because he couldn't handle living without her and living in this new world. "I am so sorry." Bailey whispers before she begins to search the woman's pockets. She liked to believe that the true dead would want to help the living continue, so Bailey didn't feel guilty for taking supplies from the dead.
She moves towards the man, taking the bullets from his pockets. She had no need for the gun, she much preferred her melee weapons. The bullets wouldn't fit her pistol, but if she ever ran into another group then she could trade these for food or even medicine. Bullets, gas, and meds are the three things that are as valuable as gold. Food and water come a close second and third in the list of importance.
Bailey makes her way upstairs to check the other rooms. There wasn't much that the house had to offer. A handful of batteries, a new flashlight, and when Bailey went down to the kitchen she found a couple of cans. "Hello." Bailey froze, her hand still on the handle of the cupboard. "Police officer out here."
"What the fuck?" Bailey whispers before crouching down and slowly making her way towards the front door. "Can I borrow some gas?" Bailey snorts at that. He wants one of the golds. No way in hell even if she had some. "Hello?" She moves so her back is to the wall beside the door, which he stood on the other side, her ax at the ready. The man actually knocks! "Hello? Anybody home?" The man moves further down to the windows. She watches him for a minute and when he has his back to the door, she quietly moves out with her ax in the air ready to swing. The sound of the door closing has the man turning only to be met with the tip of her ax.
"You move and this blade goes through your throat." She says, her southern accent thick as ever. The man swallows and holds up his hands.
"Please, I don't mean any harm." Bailey scoffs.
"Please, men these days only ever mean harm."
"I-I swear, I do not mean to hurt you. I was… gone for a long time. I'm just trying to find my family." She stares him down. She was a good five inches shorter than him, but no less intimidating.
"What do you mean gone?" She asks, eyeing him over suspiciously.
"I was shot before… before all this."
"Shot?" She raises an eyebrow.
"I'm a police officer… or was. I was shot and I was in a coma."
"One hell of a wake up call." She drawls.
"I'm just trying to get to my family." He moves slowly to his pocket.
"Hey, hey, hands where I can see them."
"I just want to show you a picture." Her brows furrowed, but she allowed him to go into his pocket. He pulls out a weathered photo and hands it over to her. "That's my wife, Lori, and my son, Carl. I'm just trying to find them."
"It's a big state." She says as she eyes over the happy family.
"I think they might be in Atlanta. It's supposed to be safe. It's a refuge for the survivors." Bailey glances at him, taking him in.
"Where were you shot?" He slowly lifts untucks his shirt and lifts it up to show her.
"I ran into a man and his son a few towns back. They stitched it up for me and took care of me." Bailey knew she shouldn't trust him, but the man looked so innocent and sounded so naive. It was hard not to believe that he didn't in fact just wake up to all of this. Bailey lowers her ax and puts back on her back.
"The name's Bailey. Bailey Horvath." She holds out her hand to him.
"Rick Grimes." He shook her hand.
"You just happen to be in luck. I'm trying to get to Atlanta myself. My father and I are supposed to meet up there."
"We could go together." She eyes him over before nodding.
"We could." She agrees. "But how do I know I can trust you? This world isn't exactly safe anymore. You got to watch out for the dead and the living."
"I promise I just want to get back to my family." She blows out a breath.
"I shouldn't trust you. Plenty of people could come up with your lies to use on women like me. Get us to trust you then injure us, take our supplies, rape us, and leave us for dead. Seen done to a handful of women already."
"I have no plans of doing any of that. I know all I have is my word, but I just want to find my family."
"I searched the house. Wasn't much to offer." She says.
"And the people that lived here?"
"Wife was bitten, husband shot her and then himself. You'll find stories like that a lot." Rick looks away, pain showing on his face. "'May god forgive us.' That is what he wrote on the wall. I don't think god got much to say to any of us. Hell, look around, if god is real then he is clearly giving up on us and decided to do a Noah's Ark on us." Rick manages a smile at that.
"That may be true, but we all still got to have hope." Bailey scoffs.
"Hope gets you killed." She tells him. "I saw a barn out back. We should check it out. Might just have gas in there." Rick nods and the two start that way.
"So, where are you from?" Rick asks.
"I'm originally from Summerville, but I moved down to Blakely about ten years ago."
"What about you?"
"Cynthiana, Kentucky." He answers.
"Long ways to go." Bailey tells him.
"I know, but Atlanta's the only place I got." Bailey felt the same way, which was why she didn't ask what would happen if Atlanta was a bust. She's been trying hard not to think about that.
"There's a truck here. I checked the gas though, it's way too low to travel with." Bailey says as a horse snorts. They both turn to it as it watches them. "Uh, no, sorry, but I don't do horses. I fell off one when I was a kid and I swore I would never-"
"It's our only option, unless you want to walk all the way to Atlanta." Rick points out.
"Fuck." She sighs before motioning for him to go ahead. Rick grabs a rope and opens the gate, making his way towards the horse. It neighs in fear.
"Easy. I'm not gonna hurt you. Nothing like that." He slowly walks towards it. "More like a proposal. Atlanta's just down the road a ways. It's safe there-food, shelter, people. Other horses too, I bet. How's that sound?"
"You sure you haven't been around this entire time. You already got the talking to animal thing down." Bailey says, causing Rick to chuckle. "You know it can't speak, right?"
"Real funny." He mumbles. He puts the rope around the horse's neck. "There we go. Good boy."
"You know it's a boy? Have you checked?" She grins, earning a dry look from him, which only made her laugh.
"Good boy. Good boy." He looks down and over, causing her to giggle. "Now, come with me. Come with me." He begins to lead the horse to the barn. Bailey jumps off the fence and follows slowly after them, not wanting to get too close to the horse. "Come on. Come on. Come on. Good boy." They move inside the barn and Rick ties the horse to a post.
"Okay… Now what?" She asks as she eyes the horse over warrily.
"Now, we need to saddle him up and get him ready to go."
"Right… That's all you." Rick chuckles and moves over to a stall.
"You really don't like horses, huh?"
"I have a fear of heights, a really bad fear. My dad took me to a farm when I was ten in hopes that getting me on a horse would cure said fear. The horse had been acting strange when we got there, but the instructor said it was fine, so I got on and it started freaking out. Bucked me off and ran off into the woods as if the devil himself was on his tail. I got a bad concussion, a broken arm, and my fear of heights only increased. It was summer too, so I couldn't go swimming or anything. It was probably one of the worst summers I ever had."
"I'm sure it was." Rick says, with a sympathetic look. "But I don't see how heights and a horse have anything really in common. You'd only be like three feet off the ground."
"Not this horse. It was one of those really tall ones. A real beast. And it most certainly did not help with my fear. And now, I have a slight fear towards horses." She gives the horse the side eye, causing Rick to chuckle.
"I am sorry for your experience, but I assure you this one won't buck you off."
"You say that now." She wrinkles up her nose.
"You've had one bad experience with a horse. Why not give it another shot." She blows out her breath.
"You sound like my father." Rick smiles, looking off in the distance, lost in thought. "You good?"
"Yeah, a friend of mine, he said something that once." Rick chuckled. "He was quoting a girl back then."
"That's never good. A girl comparing you to your father usually didn't bode well unless you had an amazing father much like my own." Rick grins at her. "You almost done? It's already noon and I'd like to get to Atlanta as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I'm good here." Rick glances over at her. "How do you know what time it is?"
"The position of the sun. My mom used to love nature. She'd taking me camping almost every weekend, force us to survive on the land and use nature as a guide. I can read the sky like any map made by humans. I know what plants to eat and what not to eat. I am not the greatest at reading tracks, but I can if I have to. I know how to make a fire, how to clean water, what mushrooms won't make you die." She shrugs. "It was my mom's thing."
"Sounds like your mom's probably doing better out there than most people." Bailey frowns.
"She died of cancer a few years ago." She shrugs. "So, I guess she's doing better. At least she didn't have to live to see this hell."
"I'm sorry." Bailey shrugs, giving him a smile.
"She's the reason I went into the medical field. But then I realized how hard said field was to be in, so I quit school and fell back into my old dream. I am an artist."
"Really? What is your thing?"
"Tattoos. I do tattoos. It pays well, I worked for a good group of guys, and I got to do what I truly enjoyed."
"How'd your dad feel about that?"
"He's used to me wanting things that normal girls don't. I'm not exactly daddy's little angel." She says, indicating to her arms. She had tattoos for herself. There were five that were visible. She had a flock of black birds going up her forearm, which she got when she was eighteen. She has a bracelet on her left wrist, which was made up of infinity symbols, which she also got when she was eighteen. She had a very cute cartoon style monkey holding a banana on the inside of her arm just before her elbow, she got that when she was twenty-three. Along her right thumb was a date, 04-13-1998, which she got at nineteen. The last tattoo was behind her left ear, a small beautiful rose with a stem and some leaves, was done when she was thirty-three, two years ago. "My dad loves me for who I am. I think deep down he knew I wouldn't have done well in the medical field. It was difficult, but that wasn't even why I quit. It was just how many lives we can't save." She looks away, pain filling her eyes. "You can't save everyone, they would tell me, but I would always think, then what's the point?" She looks back at him, before shaking away whatever dark thoughts were going through her mind. "Are you almost ready, we should get heading."
"Yeah, I'm ready." Rick says quietly, untying the horse and leading it back outside. He got on first and held out his hand. Bailey eyed it warrily. "I promise, I won't let you fall." She huffs and places her hand in his, allowing him to pull her up onto the back of his horse.
"I'm sorry about before."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't usually go into personal things like that." She tells him, looking anywhere but at him. She had no idea why she told him about her mom or about her almost career, but something about him just made her want to open up. He made her feel comfortable and that wasn't something she had felt in a long time.
"Sometimes people just need to vent. There's no shame in that." She just hums in response. Rick moves the conversation off to a new topic, clearly understanding her need to move on. He begins to talk to the horse once more. "Just go easy, okay?" Rick tells the horse. "I haven't done this for years and Bailey isn't much of a fan of riding."
"Yeah, tell me about it." She mumbles just as the horse took off like a shot. She gripped onto Rick as if clinging to her life, burying her face in between his shoulders.
"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rick calls, trying to slow the horse, but it seemed it was way to excited about riding off.
"I hate you." She growls, as she keeps her eyes firmly shut, her hands shaking, while her heart pounded.
"Easy now. Easy boy, easy. Easy, easy, eas-"
"It's clearly not working." She snaps.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa." He pulls back on the reins and finally the horse starts to slow down. "There, see, we can go slow."
"I just want to get off this beast." She says, opening one eye, regretting instantly. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly again. "I think I might get sick."
"Please do not puke on me."
"I don't like this."
"You stab people with a needle for a living but you can't be on a horse?"
"Don't judge me." She says as she tries to think about other things. "Just let this be over soon." She begs.
By the time they got to Atlanta, Bailey was feeling a tad better. She was no longer holding Rick in a death grip and had taken to sitting up. She even had her eyes open, she just refused to look anywhere but straight. "Where is everyone?" She asks as they walk into the city. It was completely bare and as quiet as the true dead. There was litter everywhere as if things had erupted into chaos previously.
"Maybe they went further into the city." Rick says as he continues to lead the horse forward.
"This doesn't feel right, Rick. It's like a ghost town around here. What if Atlanta fell? What if everyone's gone or turned? We should head back."
"We don't know what happened here, Bailey. We need to find answers. This is the only place we know that our family members might be."
"Rick…"
"Just give us until sunset, if we don't find anyone, we'll turn back."
"Sunset isn't for another four hours." Bailey says.
"Just give me two then." Bailey huffs, finally looking around them and not forward.
"My instincts are telling me to turn around and they haven't been wrong so far."
"Well, mine are saying to continue."
"Are you sure it's not just your heart needing to find your family?" Rick doesn't answer her and instead chooses to push forward. The horse begins to whine, but Rick shushes it and forces him to continue. They pass many military vehicles and abandoned cars. It looked as if an explosion happened.
They passed a van where two of the undead were. "Whoa." Rick says as the horse begins to freak out. "Bailey-" She slips off the horse, swaying slightly at the nausea that hit her, but pushes it off and grabs her ax. "There's only two. We don't need to worry about them."
"No, but it'll be two less than what we have to worry about later." She cuts into the two walkers quickly and easily, slicing their heads in half. "Give me a hand up." He pulls her back up onto the horse, but she keeps her ax on hand.
"It was nothing we couldn't out run." Rick says.
"Rather safe than sorry." She says as they stop to look back. A third comes out, but before Bailey could attempt another kill, Rick pushes the horse forward. They passed another tank where a soldier was being eaten by crows. "I really think we should get out of here. This place is abandoned. It's not-" She cuts herself off as Rick begins to look around them. "What? What's wrong?"
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"The chopper."
"What?" She questions, looking up at the sky, but she doesn't see a single thing. "I don't see anything, Rick. Are you feeling alright? Maybe you should get some-"
"Hyah!"
"Fuck." She grips tightly to Rick as he pushes the horse into a run. "What the hell, Rick? A little warning next time. Where are you taking us? Rick?!" She snaps.
"I see the helicopter."
"There is no…" All the color drains from her face as they turn the corner. Before them stood over a thousand walkers. She barely heard the horse's terrified whine. She was frozen in fear and shock. Rick reacts quicker than her. Racing them back the way they came. "Go, go, go!" She cries, her heart pounding in her chest as fear consumed her. "Shit, shit, shit." She cries as she sees the walkers now coming from the front. They were cornered, trapped, she was going to die. She wanted to scold herself as she felt the salty tears slip down her cheeks. She felt weak and scared, nothing more than a little girl. She was better than this. She could find a way out of this. But her mind was refusing to process anything.
They grabbed onto the horse and started ripping into it. The sounds of it's cries were horror to her ear. She crawled away, her body shaking. She moves under the tank, tears rushing down her cheeks. She was going to die. She was going to die. She sobs as she hears the last terrified and pained cry of the horse.
She could hear Rick behind her, but her main focus was the walkers who were falling to their stomachs and crawling after them. Rick started popping off rounds as Bailey desperately searched for a way out. She didn't want to die. She couldn't. She wasn't ready.
"Mama above." Bailey's breath caught as she heard it. A soft tiny voice in her ear. She slowly looked up and there above her was a hatch.
"Oh, god." She chokes before opening the hatch and crawling through. "Rick! Through here! Hurry!" She yells down as she holds out her hand, hoping to find Rick's hand in hers and not a walker's. "Rick!" She cries out, fear once more consuming her. Was he gone? She didn't hear any more gunshots. Did he die? Were they feasting on his corpse as she laid there waiting for him?
His hand grabbed hers. She let out a relieved breath and pulled him through. He scurried away and she slammed the hatch shut. She leans against the wall, breathing heavily. They were alive. They were safe. The sound of a gunshot going off inside the tank has her head pounding and her ears screaming. She held her head in her hands, feeling blood coming from her ears. She looks over at Rick, her eyes having a hard time focusing. Rick gets up from the floor and goes towards the ceiling of the tank where another hatch was. He quickly shut it after walkers tried to get in. "Why'd you shoot? It's a metal tank. The sound echoes and the bullet could have ricocheted and killed us." She snaps as he picks up his gun to check it over. "Do not shoot again!" She snaps.
"There's no way out here. We're trapped." He whispers.
"Don't even think about it! We are not giving up! You hear me! You got us in this mess and you are going to get us out even if I have to use you as bait." She spat. Their eyes met.
"Bailey, I'm so sorry." She huffs.
"Save it. Now, you just enforced my fear of horses. I never want to see another horse."
Suddenly static comes over the radio inside the tank. "Hey you." They both look over in shock. "Dumbasses. Yeah, you two in the tank. Are you guys cozy in there?"
"What. The. Hell."
An: Just to let everyone know. This will be a Daryl/oc love story. He will not be with Beth! He will be with Bailey. The reason behind Amy and Beth being added to the character list is because there will be another character. Tommy Dixon. Tommy will have a little triangle with Amy and Beth. I'll let you decide who he ends up with, but that is how this story is going to go. This will cover season 1 and 2. Rick and Bailey will grow to be friends, they won't be together either. So there won't be any love triangle between them and Daryl, she will be all Daryl's.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It got emotional at the end, but they were about to die, so Bailey has a right to be a bit emotional. But honestly, reviews both negative and positive are always a welcome. I want to hear what you thought about this chapter. Will update again soon.
